Toronto-based green energy retailer Bullfrog Power is teaming up with General Motors Canada to offer what Bullfrog CEO Tom Heintzman is calling a “Bullfrog Edition” Chevy Volt. This edition of the Volt would be available via all GM dealerships across Canada and would come at a $198 premium. In return, the customer gets a Bullfrog Edition plaque on the vehicle and two years of green (incl. nuke-free) electricity from Bullfrog, based on average customer electricity consumption. “It’s really trying to get people aware of the fact that just because you’re plugging into the wall doesn’t mean it’s emission-free,” Heintzman told me. “Electric vehicles ultimately need to be tied to renewable energy. This makes the link in a more tangible and powerful way.”

The deal is very similar to how many car manufacturers already offer satellite radio, or how some have offered a year’s worth or more of free gasoline. “It works out to 7.5 megawatt-hours of electricity over the course of the two years,” he said. I asked if this is an exclusive deal with GM, or whether Bullfrog is able to make a similar offer with other EV manufacturers. “It takes a while to put a program like this together, so we don’t anticipate anyone else coming aboard within the next year. At some point in time, we would hope that all EV manufacturers would begin offering it.”

4 thoughts on “GM to sell “Bullfrog Edition” of Chevy Volt, a $198 upgrade offering 2 years of green-certified electricity”

I don’t understand how this would work. People are going to plug it in at their home. Depending on whether they live in Kentucky (90% coal) or California (2% coal) the power they are stuck with is whatever comes out of their wall.

Just to clarify regarding the Chevrolet Volt Bullfrog Power Edition: Bullfrog does not inject green electricity directly into the Volt owner’s home (to be used to power the Volt)—as doing so would require building parallel energy distribution systems, which would be neither environmentally nor financially sound. Instead, Bullfrog Power injects onto the electricity grid as much clean, renewable electricity from EcoLogo-certified sources as the Volt is estimated to use over two years.

The Volt is unique in that it has two sources of energy: an electric battery that can be charged at home that allows the vehicle to travel gas-free for 40 to 80 kilometres, and an onboard gas-powered generator that produces electricity for the battery so the car can travel additional kilometres until the car can be plugged in and recharged or refueled.

The extra cost to purchase the Chevrolet Volt Bullfrog Power Edition covers the additional cost of greening the electricity that an average Volt is estimated to use over two years. Across Canada, Bullfrog’s electricity comes exclusively from wind and hydro facilities that have been certified as low impact by Environment Canada under its EcoLogo program—instead of from polluting sources like coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear.